Exxon Starts Up Saxi, Batuque Oil Fields in Angola

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest U.S. oil company, started production up the Saxi and Batuque oil fields off Angola's coast, adding to output at its largest offshore project.

When combined with the Mondo field, which started up in January, production from the Kizomba C project is expected to reach 200,000 barrels a day of oil later this year, Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil said today in a statement distributed on Business Wire.

Africa was the second-cheapest place for Exxon Mobil to pump oil last year, after the Asia Pacific-Middle East region, according to public filings. The Kizomba C project, which includes 36 wells and two production ships, will take total output in Block 15 to about 700,000 barrels a day when it reaches full production.

Exxon started pumping oil from the Xikomba deepwater development in Block 15 in 2003, from Kizomba A in 2004 and from Kizomba B the following year. BP Plc owns 26.67 percent of the venture, while Eni SpA owns 20 percent and StatoilHydro ASA 13.33 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net